7. The Real Stonewood

Oliver Reed: Seriously? The real Stonewood Academy?

"Mate, could ja show us why we would believe ya?" Some British guy says.

"Evidence, you mean?"

"Yeah," I jump in, crossing my arms. "To be frank, you can't expect us to simply accept this new worldview, that there are superheroes.... Like we watch on TV. It's the most wild assumption I have ever heard. Frankly, I still think this is a prank. As good as the Panther thing was, I don't believe it. I think we all are in disbelief, so yes, some strong solid evidence would be great." Bye bye best student ever award.

THEA: I look towards Oliver, then our teacher. “Well I believe him.” Mr. Whaver looks slightly shocked. He already marked me as the rebel-bad girl. Oliver looks surprised as well. “Well I had a nanny who- who could levitate things…” I say, mumbling as I finish. Mr. Whaver nods.

“There are many GIfted who grow with their powers never knowing that others like them exist, and they usually go on with their life as a normal mortal would.” He shrugs as he pushes off his desk. “Your nanny was probably one of them. Now students, gather your books and follow me. We are going to the training rooms.” A wicked smiles spreads across his face.

JULIET: Slowly, students start to uneasily rise from their seats, following Mr. Whaver out of the classroom and into the high ceilinged halls of the school. We all walk down a ways a bit before the teacher stops in front of a wood door. “Of course, for safety issues, we keep these doors locked, just in case,” At that note, Mr. whaver presses a small metal raised circle of the knob. There’s a small clicking sound and the door slowly opens with the whizz of what sounds like hydraulics. The door must be inforced with an interal metal core to handle all that pressure. All I can see is a long hallway that stops short with no connecting doorways. strangely, we are ushered inside and the door slowly closes behind us with another powerful whizz. There we all stand, clueless as to what we are supposed to do in a short, empty hallway. Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet starts to vibrate and shake, slowly sinking. There are panicked voices all around me as we descend into unknown territory.

After sinking for about twenty seconds, the walls around us slowly meld into frosted glass. Suddenly we stop with a lurch. The glass walls rise above us and the door we entered through earlier is far out of reach. There’s another lurch, and one long glass wall in front of us starts to rise, revealing a massive, warehouse like structure with concrete floors and massive, steel support beams. The training rooms.

Oliver Reed: I feel like a child following the teacher on a field trip. Except the children are now smelly teenagers. "The first thing I want you to notice is the difference in the training rooms," Mr. Whaver says, walking backwards, pointing at a box shaped room with high ceiling. There are many of these, it looks like some sort of military base I read about, where they park all of these tanks into these special parking spots in the wall.

"This one is for those specialized with weapons, where targets come from nowhere and need to be shot to complete the training. This one," he continues, pointing at another room, "is for super humans with athletic ability." This room is circular, and spinning. The diameter of the circle is as high as the ceiling, a good thirty feet up. It looks like a hamster spinning wheel. As it spins, poles stick out from the wall that need to be dodged. I know this because someone is running the course now, masterfully keeping an absurd speed, dodging and jumping all of these random obstacles. "That's Parker. His 'superpower' is superhuman agility, and he has it understood as well as any master could teach." He continues to walk, our group following, completely amazed.

THEA: We explore many more training rooms, each serving a different power and purpose. “Now, you will all get martial arts training, and some weapon training for self defence. We can’t be sending our students out on missions with nothing to fall back on if their powers give, can we?”

“Uh, missions?” I ask hesitantly.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. After you train with your power and have some self defence under your belt, you will get the choice to try out for the Special Ops Team. If you get accepted, you will be sent out into the real world, fighting real bad guys, in real life or death situations.” Some kids shift on their feet. “But, let’s continue with our tour.”

JULIET: This whole experience is kind of crazy. Although I was quite scared and skeptical at first, this whole school now seems kind of exciting, however crazy it sounds. I walk with the rest of the students throughout the large ‘basement’, if you can call it that. “Hey Oliver,” I say, nudging the green haired boy, “What’s your secret ‘gift’?” I smirk.

Oliver Reed: "I still think it's homework related," I say jokingly. I'm still in disbelief of this, but there is some part of me that wants to believe every word Mr. Whaver says. However, as of now, the disbelief trumps the part of me that wants to believe him.

THEA: I turn around and face my companions, walking backward as I do. “No, like seriously guys. According to professor kitty cat over there, we have powers. Powers. I mean sure I believe that other people have powers, but myself? I’m pretty sure they got my test wrong. I know I don't have any ‘gifts’.”

JULIET: “Maybe... but then again, I didn’t notice anyone else in our class having these “special gifts”, or even thinking it is a possibility,” I say, and the teacher must have heard us because he begins to speak again, looking pointedly at us. “Trust me students, you are here because of no mistake. You most probably have just not had your powers manifest yet. We will work with you to find them through various elements of testing and training, and hopefully, you will be able to discover your true being very soon, starting today. I would like you all to spread out and explore on your own. Feel free to ask other students about the different rooms and training tools down here. Teachers are also available throughout the premises to assist you. I want you to start trying different things, beginning today, so that we might discover your ability as soon as possible and help you work to properly control and embrace it,” most students just stand rooted to their spots for a few seconds, but slowly begin to disperse with Mr. Whaver’s fierce looks.